New package 'no help' to Territory pastoralists

The Territory is set to miss out on extra rural counsellors under a new Commonwealth farmers package.

7pm TV News NT

Rural counsellors and the Territory Government have slammed the Commonwealth's farmer assistance package.

Sixteen rural counsellor positions have been funded under the package but the Rural Business Support Service says none will be in the Territory or South Australia.

At the moment, the Territory has only one Federal-funded rural counsellor – and that person has been borrowed from South Australia.

Rural Business Support Service chief executive Kay Matthius says the positions have not been fairly distributed and that it is a shame for those suffering, particularly in the north.

"We're finding more and more work in the Territory and of course we have to backfill that position in South Australia, which is a position that comes from the dairying area from our state, which is also in considerable difficulty," Ms Matthius said.

"It's very disappointing to hear that none of those positions will be made available for the Northern Territory," he said.

"This is quite typical of a federal government that just continues to tinker around the edges and not really address the major problems and solutions that go with it."

Mr Westra Van Holthe also slammed the loans component of the package.

He says loans of up to $650,000 is an insult, and that they would only add to the mountain of debt owed by primary producers.

"We have cattle stations in receivership – about a third of cattle properties are unofficially on the market and pastoralists are already struggling under enormous burdens of debts," he said.

"Under the solution offered by this so-called assistance package, pastoralists are being offered a new pathway to increased debt and I can tell you increased debt levels will not solve the problems of the pastoral industry."